Spray centering device for battle-cleaning machines

ABSTRACT

In a bottle-cleaning machine an elongated chain advances in a horizontal path and carries longitudinally spaced bottles. Abutment portions project from the chain. A supporting frame is mounted below the chain for swinging movement from rest position to a deflected position in which it is swingingly deflected in the direction of advancement of the chain. One or more spray nozzles are provided on the supporting frame and arranged to spray cleaning fluid against the objects with which they are in registry. An engagement arrangement is provided for controlling the motion of the support means so as to effect the swinging movement thereof to the deflected position while maintaining substantial registry of the nozzle with selected ones of the objects during such motion, and this arrangement means comprises an arm provided on the support means and extending towards the chain, and a substantially X-shaped contact member turnably mounted on the free end of the arm so that one pair of its four projections is operative for the desired purpose, namely the upwardly extending projection engaging with one of the abovementioned portions of the chain and one of the horizontally extending projections engaging with a stationary detent which prevents turning of the contact member until the support means has reached its defelcted position at which point the contact member can turn and the support means is free to swing back to rest position to begin its travel to a deflected position again.

United States Patent [72] inventors Joachim Ciongwa Dortmund-Wambel; Wilfried Ernst, Dortmund-Horde; Joachim Kuhnt, Dortmund, Germany [21] AppLNo. 799,008

[22] Filed Feb. 13,1969

[45] Patented Feb. 9, 1971 [73] Assignee Holstein & Kappert Maschinenfabrik Phonix G.m.b.H. Postfach, Germany [32] Priority Mar. 9, 1968 [331 Germany [54] SPRAY CENTERING DEVICE FOR BOTTLE- Primary Examiner-Robert L. Bleutge AttorneyMichael S. Striker ABSTRACT: In a bottle-cleaning machine an elongated chain advances in a horizontal path and carries longitudinally spaced bottles. Abutment portions project from the chain. A supporting frame is mounted below the chain for swinging movement from rest position to a deflected position in which it is swingingly deflected in the direction of advancement of the chain. One or more spray nozzles are provided "on the supporting frame and arranged to spray cleaning fluid against the objects with which they are in registry. An engagement arrangement is provided for controlling the motion of the support means so as to effect the swinging movement thereof to the deflected position while maintaining substantial registry of the nozzle with selected ones of the objects during such motion, and this arrangement means comprises an arm provided on the support means and extending towards the chain, and a substantially Xshaped contact member turnably mounted on the free end of the arm so that one pair of its four projections is operative for the desired purpose, namely the upwardly extending projection engaging with one of the above-mentioned portions of the chain and one of the horizontally extending projections engaging with a stationary detent which prevents tuming of the contact member until the support means has reached its deflected position at which point the contact member can turn and the support means is free to swing back to rest position to begin its travel to a deflected position again.

SPRAY CENTERING DEVICE FOR BOTTLE-CLEANING MACHINES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a motion control arrangement, and more particularly to such an arrangement for use in conjunction with bottle-cleaning machines. Still more specifically, the invention relates to a centering device veyor chain. After the machine has been in operation for a period of time, the chain undergoes a certain amount of Iongitudinal extension and this quite frequently results in such shifting of the bottle baskets carried by the chain, with reference to the nozzles of the spray tubes, that there will be no registry between them at the time cleaning fluid is ejected from these nozzles. It will be remembered that the cleaning fluid is intended primarily to impinge upon the bottle opening and for this purpose it is necessary that as the bottles pass over spray nozzles, they must be coaxial with reference to the same when spraying takes place.

Prior art attempts include adjustable mounting of the spray tubes carrying the spray nozzles so that they can be adjusted and their positioning be accommodated to the changes in the location of the bottles carried along by the chain. However, such adjustment requires that the machine be shut down and that significant adjustments be carried out which are not only expensive but also time consuming, thus resulting in a production slowdown.

Continuously operating bottle-cleaning machines, in which the bottle-carrying chain moves even during-the time of ejection of cleaning fluid from the nozzles, require in any case that there be a permanent precise centering and automatic adjust ment of the bottle-engaging locations on the chain with respect to the spray tubes. It has been attempted to achieve this purpose by mounting the spray tubes on a support frame which is freely swingably arranged and which is driven via suitable linkages and earns, synchronously with the bottle chain so that it moves along a part of the path traversed by the bottle chain during such time as spraying on the nozzles continues. Subsequently, suitable springs or drives return the frame with the spray tubes mounted thereon to its starting position so that it can again move to its deflected position during the next spray period. However, this is disadvantageous because the swinging action is controlled not by the chain itself, but rather by the chain drive with the result that the same problems obtain here which were discussed earlier in the introductory portion of the specification with regard to intermittently operating bottle-cleaning machines. Attempts to overcome these problems have then further been made by having the swingable support actuated not by the chain drive but by the chain itself. A contact member engages the chain and is carried around by movement of the latter, and therefore the swinging action of the supporting means is carried out while the cleaning fluid is sprayed from the nozzles. Subsequently, that is when the supporting frame has reached its maximum deflected position, the contact arm disengages from the chain and the supporting frame is returned to its starting position by a hydraulic drive or a spring.

This construction works satisfactorily in continuously operating bottle-cleaning machines. In intermittently operating bottle-cleaning machines, where it is necessary to only to provide an'automatic centering and adjustment of the spray tubes with respect to the chain as the latter undergoes longitudinal extension, it would be much too complicated and expensive to be practical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, a general object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a motion control arrangement of the type in question which is suitable particularly for intermittently operating bottle-cleaning machines, which is very simple and inexpensive, and which guarantees continuous automatic accommodation of the spray tubes with respect to longitudinal extensions in the bottle chain.

In accordance with these objects and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of our invention resides in the provision of an apparatus of the type under discussion including elongated carrier means which are mounted for advancement in a predetermined at least substantially horizontal path. The carrier means, which may be a conventional bottle-carrying chain, is adapted to carry a plurality of longitudinally spaced objects, such as bottles or the like. The carrier means further has abutment portions spaced in longitudinal direction thereof, such as the bolts which articulately connect the links of the chain and are allowed to project laterally of the chain, or otherwise configurated in the required manner. Support means is provided which extends below the carrier means along a portion of the aforementioned path and is mounted for free swinging movement in the direction of the path from a rest or starting position to a deflected position in which it is deflected in the direction of advancement of the carrier means. Noule means is provided on the support means and is operative for spraying a cleaning fluid against those of the objects with which the nozzle means is or are in substantial registry. Engagement means is further provided on the support means operative for effecting the movement of the support means in direction of advancement of the carrier means by a predetermined distance whereby to maintain the nozzle means in registry with respective ones of the objects. The engagement means includes a stationary detent located proximal to the aforementioned path, an arm extending from the support means towards the carrier means, and a contact member which is tumably mounted on a free end of the arm and which has pairs of projections each of which includes two adjacent projections extending at an angle to one another. One of the two adjacent projections engages the detent and thereby the contact member is prevented from rotation; the other of the two projections engages one of the abutment portions whereby the support means is constrained to swing to the deflected position thereof in response to advancement of the carrier means. The two projections disengage from the detent and abutment portion respectively when the support means reaches its maximum deflected position so that the support means returns freely swingably to its rest position where, as a result of turning movement of the contact member which takes place when the projections disengage, the next two projections will contact the detent and the chain, the latter via one of the abutment portions thereon, so that the swinging motion is repeated.

The movement of the chain is so controlled that it will stand still when one of the abutment portions has moved against the respectively operatively extending projection of the contact member and has advanced the support means in direction of movement of the chain by a small distance. Now the spray operation begins and when it is completed the chain advances somewhat further, carrying along the support means until the horizontal projection which is respectively in engagement with the detent moves out of such engagement. When this occurs, the tumably mounted contact member rotates by a quarterturn so that the operatively extending arm moves out of engagement with the respective abutment portion and the support means freely swings back to its rest or starting position. The heretofore downwardly extending projection of the contact member now moves up during this turning movement until it comes into abutment with the stationary detent. The length of travel of the support means from its rest position to its maximum deflected position is only as long as the projections of the contact member and this eliminates a complicated construction for returning the support means to its stationary position because a mechanical restoring arrangement it is not necessary for this short distance, the force of gravity alone being adequate.

Also it should be noted that while in intermittently operating bottle-cleaning machines a swinging movement of the support means carrying the spray nozzles or spray tubes to deflected position is necessary only to the extent of compensating for the expected longitudinal extension of the chain which is considerably smaller than the length of one projection of the contact member, the reserve distance provided by this arrangement is of advantage because it makes it possible during assembly of the machine and adjustment of the intermittent chain movements with respect to the position of the spray-nozzle-carrying spray tubes, to be considerably less careful of tolerances than was heretofore necessary. Evidently, assembly time is considerably decreased and accordingly less expensive and simplified where the tolerance variations can be liberalized as in this case.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objccts and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration in side view showing an arrangement according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows the movements of the contact member with respect to an abutment portion of the carrier means; and

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 but showing the movements of the contact member with respect to the stationary detent.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail, and firstly FIG. 1 thereof, it will be seen that we have illustrated a conventional bottlecarrying chain I with chain bolts 2 acting as abutment portions. Bottles baskets 3 are provided carrying the respective bottles which are shown in the drawing.

Positioned below the chain 1 and the bottles 3 carried thereby is a frame 4 carrying spray tubes 7 which are provided with spray nozzles. The frame 4 is mounted on two levers 5 and 6 which are secured in elongated holes 12 on the machine frame so that the frame 4 can freely swing in the direction of advancement of the chain 1. During the spray operation the spray nozzles 8 are to be coaxial with the openings of the bottles in the bottle baskets 3. A support 9 is provided on the frame 4, and may also be thought of as an arm 9 which carries at its upper free end a cross-shaped or X-shaped contact member 10. The contact member 10 in the illustrated embodiment has four projections whose respectively upwardly extending one engages one of the chain bolts 2 whereas a horizontally directed projection of the contact member 10 abuts against a stationary abutment 11 provided in a (nonillustrated) housing wall. FIG. 1 illustrates the position of the device in which spraying of liquid for cleaning purposes is effected through the spray nozzles 8 while the chain 1 is standing still. The angle a between the solid-line deflected position of the lever 6 and the rest or' starting position of the lever 6 shown in broken lines, indicates the extent to which the frame 4 moves from its normally vertical rest or starting position to deflected position which it assumes while the spray cycle occurs.

The positioning and movements of the contact member 10 are shown more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 shows the starting position of the member 10 at the moment at which one of the abutment portions in form of a chain bolt 2 abuts against the upwardly directed projection of the member 10. At this point, the bottle baskets 3 and nozzles 8 are already centered so that the spray already acts in the desired manner. The chain drive terminates as soon as the member 10 has reached the broken-line position and then the actual spray operation begins. When this is terminated the chain 1 and with it the chain bolt 2 engaging the upwardly directed projection of the member 10 moves towards the left-hand side of the drawing. As long as the right-hand horizontally extending projection of the member 10 remains in contact with the stationary abutment 11, the centering between the bottle baskets 3 and the spray nozzles 8 remains intact with the result that it is immaterial at which point in time the spray action is initiated. It is sufficient if the spray action begins in the time period which falls between the shifting of the chain bolt 2 from the full-line position to the broken-line position of FIG. 2.

In any case, the spray action is completed, and the chain drive (not illustrated) again advances the chain 1 towards the left-hand side of the drawing. This is shown in FIG. 3 from which it will be evident that during the course of this second movement the right-hand horizontal projection of the member 10 moves leftwards beyond the stationary detent 11 and when this occurs, the upwardly extending projection of the contact member 10 also moves out of contact with the chain bolt 2. This permits the frame 4 with the arm 9 and the member 10 to freely swing back to rest position under the influence of gravity, as illustrated in broken lines. As this takes place the projection of rotary member 10 to which heretofore extended downwardly, now moves into abutment with the detent I1 and the spray cycle can-begin again. It is evident that the deflection of the frame 4, which is directly dependent upon the length of the projections of the member 10, is minor so that no drives or control means are necessary to restore the frame 4 to its starting or rest position with adequate speed; the force of gravity is sufficient to accomplish this with the necessary speed.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a motion control arrangement for use in intermittently operating bottle-cleaning machines, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, a combination comprising elongated carrier means mounted for advancement in a predetermined at least substantially horizontal path and adapted to carry a plurality of longitudinally spaced objects, said carrier means having abutment portions spaced in longitudinal direction thereof; support means extending below said carrier means along a portion of said path and being mounted for free swinging movement in the direction of said path from a rest position to a deflected position; noule means provided on said support means and operative for spraying a cleaning fluid against such of said objects with which it is in substantial registry; and engagement means provided on said support means operative for effecting swinging movement of said support mearis in direction of advancement of said carrier means by a predetermined distance whereby to maintain said nozzle means in registry with respective ones of said objects, said engagement means including a stationary detent, an arm extending from said support means towards said carrier means, and a contact member tumably mounted on a free end of said arm and having pairs of projections each including two adjacent projections extending at an angle to one another and one of which engages said detent whereby said contact member is prevented from rotation and the other of which engages one of said abutment portions whereby said support means is constrained to move to said deflected position in response to advancement of said carrier means, said two projections disengaging from said detent and abutment portion, respectively, when said support means reaches said deflected position whereby said support means returns freely swingably to said rest position thereof.

5. in an apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the respectively upwardly directed projection of said contact member engages one of said abutments when said chain moves in said path, and wherein one of the respectively horizontally directed projections of said contact member engages said detent. 

1. In an apparatus of the character described, a combination comprising elongated carrier means mounted for advancement in a predetermined at least substantially horizontal path and adapted to carry a plurality of longitudinally spaced objects, said carrier means having abutment portions spaced in longitudinal direction thereof; support means extending below said carrier means along a portion of said path and being mounted for free swinging movement in the direction of said path from a rest position to a deflected position; nozzle means provided on said support means and operative for spraying a cleaning fluid against such of said objects with which it is in substantial registry; and engagement means provided on said support means operative for effecting swinging movement of said support means in direction of advancement of said carrier means by a predetermined distance whereby to maintain said nozzle means in registry with respective ones of said objects, said engagement means including a stationary detent, an arm extending from said support means towards said carrier means, and a contact member turnably mounted on a free end of said arm and having pairs of projections each including two adjacent projections extending at an angle to one another and one of which engages said detent whereby said contact member is prevented from rotation and the other of which engages one of said abutment portions whereby said support means is constrained to move to said deflected position in response to advancement of said carrier means, said two projections disengaging from said detent and abutment portion, respectively, when said support means reaches said deflected position whereby said support means returns freely swingably to said rest position thereof.
 2. In an apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said carrier means comprise a chain.
 3. In an apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein said contact member is substantially X-shaped.
 4. In an apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said contact member is mounted for turning movement about a substantially horizontal axis normal to the elongation of said path.
 5. In an apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the respectively upwardly directed projection of said contact member engages one of said abutments when said chain moves in said path, and wherein one of the respectively horizontally directed projections of said contact member engages said detent. 